Museums

Design Principles
This is the work of Arch. Pedro Santos Jr. and
is licensed under the Creative Commons
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International License. To view a copy of this
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Introduction
Museum

An institution that cares for a

collection of important artifacts
and other objects and makes them
available for public viewing
through exhibits that may be
permanent or temporary.
Primary purpose

● Safeguarding its collection

● Hence, the two most important functional requirements
are:
○ Physical security
○ Maintaining constant temperature and relative humidity
Mission statements

● “To preserve, protect, and exhibit.”

● Variations:
○ Collecting museums
○ Museums with static collections
○ Museums that emphasize education
■ Art schools and classrooms
○ Museums that emphasize community services
Sample: National Museum

“The National Museum is dedicated to the mission of

collecting, preserving, studying, interpreting and exhibiting
the cultural and natural history specimens of the Philippine,
from the historic times to the present, albeit diversity of
their cultural origins.”
Intergration with the community

● Most museums try to move away from the image of an

elitist institution and aspire to become an integral part
of the community instead
● This message is often first communicated with the
design of the museum
The museum as a landmark

● The museum is often seen as

an important civic building and
cultural landmark
● A very important “face” of a
community/city, not only
visited by local patrons but by
foreign tourists as well
The museum as a landmark

● A museum typically either blends with or

contrasts its surroundings
● Most modern museums, however, tend to become
design statements
Museum of Contemporary Art (Brazil), Oscar Niemeyer
Vitra Design Museum (Germany), Frank Gehry
Perez Art Museum (Miami, Florida), Herzog and De Meuron
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain), Frank Gehry
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain), Frank Gehry
Museum of Tomorrow (Brazil), Santiago Calatrava
Heydar Aliyev Center (Azerbaijan), Zaha Hadid
The Messner Mountain Museum, Zaha Hadid
The Messner Mountain Museum, Zaha Hadid
The Hanoi Museum by gmp Architekten
The 1911 Revolution Museum by CADI
The Soumaya Museum by FR-EE
Yuchengco Museum
Planning considerations
Site planning

● The main entrance is ideally highly visible

● Visitor/staff parking is ideally on-site
● Most museums should have some form of outdoor space
(courtyards, etc.) for outdoor exhibitions and other functions
● The site should permit horizontal expansion
Site planning

● For museums with outdoor

spaces, site zoning is critical
● Services, vehicular circulation,
and mechanical elements
must be visually and
acoustically separate from the
outdoor function spaces
Plan organization

● Museums operate best with a simple and clear floor plan

● The primary spatial organization should be based on the ff.
basic zones:
○ Public/non-collections
○ Public/collections
○ Non-public/non-collections
○ Non-public/collections
○ Collections storage
Public/non-collections

● Museum lobby
● Information desk
● Main toilets
● Food service
● Theater
● Retail
Public/collections

● Exhibit areas/galleries
Non-public/collections

● Collections loading dock

● Collections receiving
● Freight elevator
● Crating/uncrating
Non-public/non-collections

● Offices
● Conference rooms
● Security office
● General storage
● Foodservice kitchen
● Electrical/mechanical rooms
Super-secure spaces

● Collections storage
● Computer network room
● Security equipment room
Zoning for HVAC and security

● Museums have very specific security and HVAC needs

● Meeting these needs often means that the spaces are
zoned in a way that facilitates security and HVAC
Accessory functions

● Accessory uses are desirable

as they bring in extra revenue,
and increase the museum’s
value to its patrons
○ Auditorium, film theaters
○ Performance spaces
○ Restaurant, coffee shops, etc.
○ Souvenir shops
Lille Metropole Museum of Modern Art (France)
National Museum of Wildlife Art (USA)
The visitor entrance

● For efficient security, a single entrance and exit for all

visitors is ideal
● The clarity of the entrance is crucial. An entrance should
be obvious and should face the direction of approach
The visitor entrance

● If visitors will arrive by multiple modes of transportation,

the design should reconcile these to a single entrance
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Tadao Ando
The Soumaya Museum by FR-EE
Other entrances

● Museum staff entrance, often located near the

collections loading dock
● Collections service entrance/loading dock
● Service entrance for food service and concessionaires
Other considerations

● Areas used for non-museum functions, such as theaters

or auditoriums, should have entrances that are
accessible when the museum is closed
● Entrances should have a vestibule deep enough so that
the exterior door will close before the interior door is
encountered
The lobby

● The lobby is the first

experience of the museum
● Certain entrance logistics
that must be considered:
○ Ticket sales
○ Bag checking
○ Access to toilets
○ Information desk
New York Guggenheim lobby
Guggenheim Bilbao lobby (looking up)
Ayala Museum lobby
Smithsonian National History Museum lobby
Restrooms

● Should be accessible from

the lobby
● Restrooms on upper floors
must be well-considered
because piping can be a
water damage risk for
museum spaces below
Exhibition spaces

● Ideally, all exhibition spaces should be located together

● Visitor circulation patterns to and through the exhibition
spaces should be clear and direct
● If there are major groups of exhibitions, these can be
used as anchors to draw visitors past other exhibition
spaces in between
Exhibition spaces

● Exhibition needs vary

substantially per type of
museum
○ Arts museums are very concerned
with display surfaces on walls
○ Natural history museums are more
concerned with casework that
completely covers walls
Exhibition spaces

● Exhibition needs vary

substantially per type of
museum
○ Arts museums are very concerned
with display surfaces on walls
○ Natural history museums are more
concerned with casework that
completely covers walls
Visual purity of exhibition space

● Exhibition spaces should be visually pure environments

● Visual clutter is undesirable (thermostats, fire
extinguishers, signages, etc.)
● The display surface material should not be identifiable
by texture or pattern
● Display surfaces should be easily paintable to allow the
museum to easily control color to suit an exhibition
Other considerations

● For flexibility, museums

may prefer rectangular
rooms for exhibition
spaces
● A minimum height of
3.60 meters is common
for display walls
Collections
Collections

● Collections is a generic term used to designate the

valuable artifacts that are stored, preserved, or exhibited
● A museum’s own collection is referred to as its
permanent collection
First Baptism, Amorsolo (1955)
Burning of the Idols, Amorsolo (1960)
Early Sulu Wedding, Amorsolo (1955)
Maiden with Lanzones, Amorsolo
(1924)
Boat Gallery, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Gold of Ancestors Collection, Ayala Museum
Aphrodite, known as the "Venus
de Milo" C. 100 BC
The Winged Victory of
Samothrace
“Liberty Leading the People”
Louvre
Nascita di Venere (The Birth of
Venus)
Mona Lisa
La Belle Jardinière (Madonna
and Child with Saint John the
Baptist)
Code of Hammurabi
Design of collections spaces

● Must be designed for moving large objects safely, with

clear circulation paths
● Windows are not desirable
● Movement of collections must be kept separate from
other movement types
● Collections loading operations must be kept as far away
as possible from other loading/service areas
Design of collections spaces

● Typical doors for collection spaces measure 12 feet

high x 8 feet wide (3.60m high x 2.40m wide)
● Provide dedicated parking for collections loading
● Provide a crating/uncrating space equivalent to one
truckload of deliveries
Collections storage

● The are with the highest security level in most museums

● Typically located in the core of the building, ideally with
no exposure to an outside wall or a roof
● Fire protection is required, dry-standpipes
recommended over wet standpipes
Collections storage

● Utility lines should avoid this space. Plumbing is

generally disallowed.
● Lighting should be controlled
○ Some museum prefer that lighting be
automatically turned off when the space is
not in use
○ Generally kept to 5-7 footcandles (sufficient to
move and identify pieces)
Environmental systems
Temperature standards

● Lower temperatures are better for collections

conservation
○ Human comfort: 22-24 degrees Celsius
○ For exhibition spaces: 20-22 degrees Celsius
○ For collections storage: 15-20 degrees Celsius
Relative humidity (RH) standards

● Constant RH is required because the materials in collections are

very sensitive to RH changes
● Inconsistent RH can cause major damage to collections
● Generally, a constant, year-round 50% RH level is recommended by
museum design professionals
HVAC system layout

● Since HVAC is a critical requirement for most museums,

location requirements for HVAC should be a prime
consideration
● Piping systems should be run in or above
non-critical spaces
● Air intake/inlets must be located away
from sources of pollution
The issue of light

● Deterioration caused by light is cumulative and

irreversible
● Energy from light accelerate deterioration, especially
ultraviolet light
● Light exposure causes fading, darkening and aging
● Making a collection look inviting while following
conservation standards is often a compromise
Renzo Piano’s Menil Collection
Lighting considerations

● Lighting needs vary by the

type of display
● A natural history museum
may only need minimal
lighting compared to an art
museum
Lighting considerations

● The museum must be

able to control light levels
and length of exposure in
each gallery
● Ideally, lighting should
also be controllable for
each artwork
Lighting considerations

● Since infrared and ultraviolet light do not affect viewing,

they must be eliminated entirely
○ The sun is the most common source of UV light
● Oftentimes, the goal in lighting is to light individual
items, not whole rooms
● Most museums use track lighting to illuminate
exhibition spaces
Zoning by security

● Five security zones should be considered:

○ Zone 1 (Highest security): Collections storage
○ Zone 2 (High security): No public access with
Collections
○ Zone 3 (High security): Public access with collections
○ Zone 4 (Secure): No public access, no collections
○ Zone 5 (Secure): Public access, no collections
End
Additional references

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collections_management_
(museum)#Display_and_storage_housing